P.o.D: F.N: -21- A New Journey Begins

Chapter 21: A New Journey Begins

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It didn't take long for the five visitors from Nerima, Japan to finish repacking, since most of what they brought along was still in their traveling packs. Each member of the traveling party arrived at the dining hall at different times.

Kuno was the first to arrive. Taking a quick look around, he then headed towards the doors leading the way out when he didn't see anyone else around. He reached for the door handle, but hesitated. Glancing behind him, he expected to see one of the other members of the group standing there looking very cross with him, instead he found that no one else had walked into the dining hall yet.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he pushed the door open. The mid-morning sun was shining brightly in the light-blue sky. Kuno took a deep breath of fresh air, while letting the warmth of the sun sweep over his body. Standing in the doorway, he let out his big breath, ending it with one word, "Perfect."

Sticking his left foot out, he prepared himself for a solo journey, only to have someone grab hold of the collar to his kendo uniform and yank him back inside the dining hall.

Laying on the ground, Kuno stared up at the person who had grabbed him.

Looking down at him was Genma, with a very obvious frown on his face. "Not quite. I wouldn't try that again if I were you," he told the surprised teenager.

Getting up off the ground, Kuno muttered under his breath, "We'll just see about that," low enough that the old man couldn't hear him.

To older boy's disappointment the remaining members of the group arrived at the dining hall less than ten minutes later, one right after the other with Soun being last to appear. They walked in to find Genma sitting in a chair against the wall next to the exit and Kuno sitting at the table leering at the old man. None of the others bothered to ask what had happened before they had gotten there, one glance at how displeased Genma looked told them that Kuno had tried to leave on his own.

Just as Soun was about to reprimand the idiotic boy for his actions, the door leading out of the dining hall opened and in walked Captain Johza.

"Everyone ready? Then let's go," he said, holding the door open for the others.

As Ranma and Ryoga were walking out the door, Soun grabbed Kuno's upper arm, lifted him out of his chair, shoved his pack into his chest and pushed him out next. Genma followed after his long time friend. Making sure nothing was left behind, the Captain closed the dining hall door behind him.

Once outside everyone else waited for Johza's instructions, "This journey should be an easy one. We will be hiking upstream alongside the river not too far from here. The river should lead us directly to the base of the Shikotaido mountains. However, the trail to the mountains requires us to hike through a forest for most of the time. Be careful, because you could easily get lost in the woods, but as long as you stay near the river you should be fine. Since we have a few hours to go until noon, I was hoping we could at least make it to the outskirts of the forest before stopping for lunch. So lets head out."

With Johza leading the way and Soun and Genma bringing in the rear; so they could keep an eye on Kuno; the band of travelers headed for the palace gates.

Halfway to the gates, a woman stopped them. They noticed she was carrying a number of bundles in her arms. She explained to them that she was sent there to give the five visitors these bundles prior to them leaving on their journey.

Opening the packages, the travelers found the clothes they had worn the previous two days were being handed back to them, clean and ready to go. Ranma's red Chinese shirt that was burned by Akane's Hi-Karyu-Ken attack and then sliced by the Prince's Hito Ryu-Zan Ha attack had been sewn back together as well, so well in fact that it looked like it hadn't been burnt and cut up at all. They thanked the nice lady before she left and then resumed their march to the palace gates.

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Johza's plan worked out really well. They had made excellent time when they reached the outskirts of the forest. Since the entire group was so well-traveled, the Captain decided to continue walking into the woods a little ways more before stopping for lunch. After finding a small clearing to sit down and relax, Soun took out the food Kasumi had packed for them. Too bad most of the food had gone bad after being unrefridgerated for nearly three days, all that remained was some fruit that hadn't yet spoiled.

The Captain; being prepared for this little inconvenience; took a small fishing net out of his pack and went to the river to catch them something to eat. Shortly, the dozen fish he caught had been cleaned, cooked and eaten. Not to be outdone, Ryoga told everyone that he would supply dinner when it came.

Before starting back up, Johza filled several canteens up with water while everyone else cleaned the campsite. Soun disposed of the rotten food, washed out the containers and repacked them. He was surprised to see that Ryoga hadn't eaten the apple that was given to him.

"I have my reasons. It'll come in handy later," answered the boy.

Acknowledging the answer with a nod, the old man decided against pressing the issue. After he handed everyone a canteen of water, Johza and the others continued on their way upstream. Periodically, whenever the Captain stopped to rest, the entire band of travelers took a few minutes to take a drink of water and relax before they started up again.

Much to Kuno's dismay Genma and Soun took turns keeping an eye on him whenever the group rested and made sure he didn't try anything stupid. 'I'll take off for those mountains when everyone else goes to sleep tonight,' the teenager told himself.

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Although no one really knew how far the group had traveled, Captain Johza was very pleased. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm sure we'll be near the Shikotaido Mountains by tomorrow night or by lunchtime the next day at least," he told the others as they were setting up camp for the night.

Hoping to keep his word, Ryoga let everyone else put the campsite together, while he went into the woods to find dinner. When he was alone, he placed the apple he had from earlier on a tree stump. Walking a couple of steps, he turned to face the apple. Taking off one of his bandanas, he twirled it in his hand and flung it at the fruit, cutting it cleanly in two. Picking the apple halves off of the tree stump, he had a plan to use them as bait.

Placing the apple slices on the ground, Ryoga went to hide behind a nearby bush. Keeping an eye on the apple, he wondered what he would catch with the bait. While he was waiting, he knew the others were waiting on him.

"Come on. Something please appear and take the bait," he whispered, losing his patience.

About ready to give up, he noticed some rustling brush not to far off from where he was. However watching whatever it was, was getting difficult because the sun was setting on the horizon and it started getting darker. Ryoga stayed motionless, ready to attack whatever was coming towards his trap. Straining his eyes through the deepening darkness, he kept his focus on the target as it came closer.

He was slightly startled by a poke to his back. He didin't move, but whispered, "Very funny Ranma, leave me alone."

After getting poked for a second time, Ryoga said a little more sternly, "I mean it." and closed his eyes to calm himself down.

When he opened his eyes again, he had lost track of what he was watching.

'Great,' he told himself just as he got poked in the back once again.

"I said, 'leave me alone!'," he yelled, thrusting his elbow back at whoever was poking him, not making contact with anything in particular.

A very loud roar made him turn around finally. Ryoga was staring face to face with an angry bear. Paralyzed with fear, he couldn't do anything but sit there as the bear stood on its hind legs. Standing taller than an average man, the bear was going to attack. The lost boy tried to get away, but his foot was tangled in some roots. Putting his arms up to protect his face and closing his eyes, he embraced himself for the attack.

The bear's front paws landed on Ryoga's chest and pushed him away, forcing his foot to come loose. It wasn't in time though as the bear to charge forward towards him. Headbutting the lost boy in the gut, the bear sent him flying through the air. Landing on top of the apple with a squishing sound, he decided to take a chance.

Gathering energy, he shouted, "Shi Shi Hokodan!" and fired a Lion's Roar Blast aimed directly at the bear.

Instead of hitting the target, the ki attack passed right thru it.

"What the-?" said Ryoga, as the bears roared at him once again.

Scrambling to his feet, the panic stricken teen ran away in a hurry. Under normal circumstances, Ryoga always had a bad sense of direction, but his train of thought at the moment was that any direction away from the bear was a good one.

Not realizing he made it back to camp, the lost boy ran past the fire that had been built during his absence. In the fire were some fish cooking very nicely. Surprising everyone as he ran by them, he didn't even acknowledge their existence.

"What's wrong?" asked Ranma as his rival zoomed by him.

Ryoga didn't give an answer as he tripped over his backpack. Before he could pick up speed again though Captain Johza tackled the boy facedown to the ground.

"Let me go! There's a bear in those woods!" he shouted, fear present in his voice.

Releasing his hold, Johza began brushing off pieces of crushed apple he had gotten from Ryoga's backside as he said, "Relax, there aren't any bears in this forest."

"Then what was that I saw? It looked and sounded like a bear to me," argued the frightened youth.

"I don't know what it was that you saw, but I'm telling you there are no bears in these woods. Trust me," the Captain assured him, standing up.

Walking back to the fire, Johza took two of the cooked fish and handed them over to the young man. He said, "Calm down and eat these, please."

"Thanks, but I said that I would supply dinner," answered the boy as he took the fish with a shaky hand.

"We got tired of waiting for you. So we went fishing again," replied Ranma, befire he sat back down next to his sleeping bag.

Even though he tried to eat the fish, every little sound made the lost boy jump in fear.

"Why don't you tell us what happened in there a few minutes ago?" asked Johza.

"Well, I took the apple that Mr. Tendo had given me earlier and tried using it as bait to catch dinner," explained the terrified youth, "I hid in a nearby bush, waiting for something to show up. While I was waiting something poked me in the back. At first I thought it was Ranma playing a joke on me."

"Sounds like something he would do," interrupted Genma.

"Now's not the time for jokes, pop," said Ranma.

"Anyway, whoever it was that was poking me did it two more times. By the third time, I was a little mad. I yelled and threw my elbow back, hoping to catch the person by surprise. I didn't hit anything and thought nothing of it really. When I heard a roar, I turned around and I was looking at this bear-" continued Ryoga before being interrupted again.

"But I told you there aren't any bears in these woods," said Captain Johza, reminding him.

"I know what I saw, Captain. Please let me finish," retorted the lost boy, before he continued his story, "So, I get headbutted by this bear and I land on the apple. I quickly fired a ki blast at it, but the attack passed thru the bear like it wasn't even there. I ran away real fast after that and you know the rest of the story," finished the teen, calmer now than he was when he started.

"Hold on a second. You said your attack went thru the bear. Could it have missed and you thought it went thru it instead?" asked Soun.

"I don't think so. I aimed for the bear's chest and even though it was a live target, my attack should've effected it at some degree," answered Ryoga.

"But that doesn't make sense, you know," said Ranma, "There isn't any way your attack should've passed thru the bear. It should have hurt it some way."

They both knew they were right, because they know that when using ki-style attack on an inanimate or non-living object, the target doesn't have the proper emotional energy in which to counteract the emotion used to fuel the ki-style attack. Thus the object would be completely destroyed. However, if the target of the ki attack was something alive; even a plant or a tree; the life energy it gives off will act like a shield; a sponge if you will; and absorb the ki attack. Even though the life energy will absorb the attack, like a sponge, it couldn't absorb all of it, so the target would still be taking damage from the hit, but not at the same strength as a non-living target.

"Are you sure you're not leaving anything out? Maybe the bear got out of the way of your attack? Maybe you did hit it and you couldn't tell you did?" wondered Genma.

"I told you guys everything that happened in there and no, I watched my blast go thru the bear, it didn't move. If I had hit it I would know, it would've been in pain and it's fur would've been burnt. But there were no signs of physical damage after I had fired off my attack," replied Ryoga, slightly angry and tired of all the questions.

"Well, whatever it was and whatever happened in there is over with, so let's try to get some sleep so we can start off early tomorrow," requested Johza. He laid down on the straw-woven mat he brought with him.

"You're awfully quiet over there Kuno. Why is that?" asked Ranma, looking at the older teen.

"I have no desire of wanting to be in your conservation at the moment," said the upperclassman as he readied himself for bed.

The kendoist pretended to drift off to sleep after he closed his eyes. He was going to wait for the others to fall asleep before he leaving on his own.

"Oh, okay whatever," shrugged the boy as he shut his eyes as well.

"Shouldn't someone keep watch for any wild animals?" asked Ryoga, worried.

"There's no need to, the fire is enough of a deterrent for the animals," answered Johza with a yawn.

Before anyone could really drift to sleep, they were startled by a shout that came from Kuno's direction.

"What is the meaning of this? Why have you tied me down to my sleeping bag? Release me at once," ordered the angry teenager as he struggled to get out of the bindings Genma put him in.

The old man told him, "After what you tried to do this morning, I'm not taking any chances with you. So quiet down and go to sleep."

"How can I sleep with this uncomfortable rope holding me down?" wondered the helpless youth.

"If you're tired enough you'll fall asleep whether you're tied up or not. Giving in and going to bed is you're best option, unless you want to be tied to a tree," threatened the old martial artist.

"No, this will do quite nicely, thank you," replied the older boy. He figured his current situation was the better of the 2 choices.

Giving a chuckle, Johza said, "Alright, that's enough of that. Let's try and get some sleep."